6 January 1999

Now I'm in Tacloban City!  We landed in Taipei, Taiwan at 6:00 am their time, only instead of being Sunday the third, which it was in North America, it was Monday the fourth.  It was really messed up.  At 9:30 am, we left Taipei and arrived in Manila at 11:40 am.  Elder Makanoa (the man in charge of the MRC (Missionary Reception Center), along with his wife) picked us up at the airport.  We exchanged our money at a place in some sort of mall.  It was crowded.  Yesterday, we got Philippines drivers licenses.  Afterwards, we wanted to do a session at the Manila Temple, but we discovered that it was closed for repairs.  So we just walked around the grounds for a few minutes.  This morning, we left Manila at 5:30 and arrived here in Tacloban.  President and Sister Dimaya are cool.  Elder Kopp is chasing a tiny little lizard right now in our room for the night.  We're at the mission home.  We'll be meeting our trainers in about an hour.  I love it here.  We went to the General MacArthur monument earlier today.  We bought a fresh coconut while we were there.  It was okay, but I was expecting more.  Tomorrow, I'll be in my first area!

President Dimaya, Elder MacKenzie, Sister Dimaya

Wynder, Swingler, Roberts, MacKenzie, Kopp, Knighton, Dimaya

(For a more detailed description of this first day, go here.)